It’s The Most Boring Olympics Ever And Has The Ratings To Prove It

UPDATED: According to total audience delivery data, the 2018 Winter Olympics continued to hit new lows over the Presidents’ Day Weekend.

On Saturday, primetime coverage of the Games drew 16.1 million people across NBC, NBC Sports, and various streaming platforms. That marks the lowest viewership for the 2018 Olympics thus far. Sunday night fared better, rising to 18.2 million, though that is still the second-lowest viewership since competition began this year.

PREVIOUSLY: The 2018 Winter Olympics from Pyeongchang, South Korea, started to show clear signs of fatigue in the Nielsen ratings over the weekend.

On Friday, NBC and NBC Sports’ combined primetime coverage averaged 13.0 rating in metered market households, matching the competition low in that measure set on Thursday night. According to total audience delivery data, 19.2 million people tuned in on NBC, NBC Sports, and on streaming platforms for the night. That matches the viewership low set on Feb. 14.

The second Saturday of the 2018 Olympics was not much better, with primetime coverage of the Games netting a combined 10.4 rating in metered market households, falling 20 percent from the previous low. Total audience delivery for Saturday is not currently available, but the overnight ratings have the Olympics at 13.6 million viewers on NBC alone.

The second Sunday improved slightly from the declines of Saturday, nabbing a combined 11.8 rating in metered market households and is currently averaging 15.7 million viewers. Total audience delivery data should be available later today. As it currently stands, this Sunday was down nearly 30 percent in metered market households compared to the first Sunday (16.5 rating).

For the rest of Sunday night, as usual, very few broadcast originals aired against the Olympics.

On ABC, a new episode of “America’s Funniest Home Videos” drew a 0.9 rating in adults 18-49 and 5 million viewers, down slightly in the key demo from last week. On CBS, “60 Minutes” drew a 0.7 and 7.5 million, also down slightly in the demo. A new episode of “Big Brother: Celebrity Edition” hit a 1.2 and 4.9 million viewers, up in both measures from Friday’s episode and even with the previous Sunday.